Untitled

Science

• Science has transformed and shaped human history.
• The history of science differs and has its own unique ideas.
• There exists tension between intellectual aspects and practical applications in science.
• This tension is evident from Greek philosophers to the modern day.
• Research is driven by both the pursuit of knowledge and the pressure for practical application.
• The usefulness of science varies from person to person and society to society.

Science and Technology

• The relationship between science and technology is an ongoing issue for historians.
• Boundaries between when science ends and technology begins are often blurry.
• The division and articulation between scholars and craftsmen is debated.
• Geographers in the early modern period, using navigator skills and abstract math, exemplify the interconnection of science and technology.

Origins of Natural Philosophy

• Natural philosophy serves as the root of modern science.
• Greek philosophers played a vital role in the development of natural philosophy.
• The understanding of success lies in Greek natural philosophy.
• The conditions are connected to the philosophy of nature.
• Observation of nature is crucial for human survival.

Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge

• Agriculture and urban civilization led to the rise of diverse, new skills and knowledge.
• Four great cradles of civilization developed along river systems.
• These river based civilizations were the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Indus-Ganges, and Yellow River civilizations.
• Floods renewed soil, supported agriculture, and sustained large populations.
• Freed from farm work, people gained new advantages.
• Rivers offered many opportunities and economic advantage.
• These civilizations developed the knowledge of counting and measurement of length, weight, area and volume.
• Religion and agriculture intertwined, especially in timekeeping for worship and production.
• They made astronomical observations and developed calendars.
• Record keeping became essential, transitioning from memory to written records as villages grew into kingdoms and empires.
• Writing and accounting skills were developed.
• Floods caused a loss of landmarks, necessitating surveying skills.
• Surveying brought level and angle measurement devices and introduced geometry.
• Tools were related to navigation and astronomy.
• Practical skills led to abstract models.
• Four ancient empires mastered observation, record keeping, measurement, and mathematics.
• These laid the foundation of natural philosophy.

The Greek World

• Greek city-states were characterized by competition.
• Intellectual and material wealth became significant factors which the city states wanted to acquire.
• Greek life was public, involving discussions, debates, teaching, and news sharing.
• There was Intellectual rigor and tolerance for different points of view.
• It's important to note the role of time and leisure in societal functioning, supported by the use of slavery.

Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change

• Greeks separated the natural and supernatural realms.
• Separation was a core tenet for philosophers in the 6th century BCE.
• Thales of Miletus (624-548 ВСЕ) was one of the most famous philosopher.
• Thales argued that water was the prime constituent of nature.
• All matter consisted of water in three forms: water, earth, and mist.
• Nature is completely material, lacking supernatural elements and operating according to its own accord, according to Anaximander.
• Anaximander added fire as another basic element.
• Earth is the center with three rings of fire hidden by mist.
• Apertures in the mist create the images of stars, the sun, and the moon.
• A natural system supports animal life, with animals emerging from wet earth under the sun's heat.
• Life requires four elements and simple creatures evolved into complex ones through natural processes

Pythagoras

• Pythagoras emerged during the same era as Thales, focusing on number rather than matter.
• Pythagoreanism conceived the universe as based on numbers.
• All life is expressed in numbers, ratios, proportions, and geometry.
• Math quantifies nature.
• Music is an example, where the length of a string determines the note produced.
• Cosmology divided the universe into three spheres: Uranos, Olympos, and Cosmos.
• A geometric relation, the "Pythagorean Theorem," relates the hypotenuse of a triangle to its sides.
• This theorem was known to Egyptians and Babylonians.

Change

• Ionians focused on material structure while Pythagoreans focused on math and geometry.
• Change is another aspect of nature.
• Motion, growth, decay, and thought are not matter or form.
• Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 550–475 ВСЕ) believed all was change and nature is in a constant state of flux.
• Change is a dynamic equilibrium with forces working against each other.
• Fire is the heart of this system, destroying earth and water.
• "You can't step into the same river twice" in Heraclitus' theory
• Parmenides of Elea (fl. 480 ВСЕ) considered change an illusion.
• Change is impossible because it would require something to come from nothing.
• Change is logically impossible, as nothing can contain something.
• Zeno was a pupil who made the proof "Zeno's Paradox" against the possibility of motion.

The Ideal and the Real

• Ideas and concepts came together in the work of famous/influential thinkers in Athens during the 5th century BC.
• Socrates thought the study of nature was not worthy of philosophers thought.
• There came the idea of the real world being "the realm of the ideal."
• Since nothing in the material world could be perfect, the material world would be secondary to the ideal.
• People need knowledge to comprehend how things work.
• Through questioning, innate skills reveal themselves.
• A form of teaching based not on giving information to the student but asking questions that guides the student's thoughts is key.
• Plato was a pupil to learn these things.
• Plato's interests were in ethical and political matters.
• Plato described them in his famous book, The Republic.
• Idea related to social organization and its' problems.
• He also wrote the "Allegory of the Cave".
• Plato thought that perception through the senses is an illusion however logic and philosophy can expose the truth.
• Plato wrote of the four elements – earth, water, air, fire.
• Aristotle was a famous student.
• He was more interested in material world than the ideal world.
• Aristotle agreed with Plato in some respect due to his belief that senses are impure/fallible.
• It was argued we have all we need.
• Aristotle created a complete system of natural philosophy.
• There were two central ideas that Aristotle used to construct this complete system of natural philosophy.
• The system provided a complete description of natural objects.
• The other part of this system served to verify knowledge so that demand for proof was satisfied.
• Four elements may not be enough to account for the organization/behaviour of matter.
• Aristotle described matter as having 4 irreducible qualities; hot/cold and wet/dry.
• According to Aristotle there are 4 causes – formal, material, efficient, final.
• These views were challenged by the Epicureans.
• The Epicureans argued the world as constructed of many "atoms" (Ede and Cormack, 17) and that this was the way to challenge the idea of Aristotelian logic.
• The only knowledge comes from our senses.
• This was the precursor to modern chemistry.

Aristotelian Theories of Change and Motion

• There are three fundamental aspects of matter – elements, qualities, and causes.
• Change and motion brings these three concepts together.
• Types of motion are natural and introduced.
• Locomotion is a type of motion.
• The amount of an element in an object affects its rate of motion.

Aristotelian Logic

• The structure of matter and motion is inadequate for understanding the world.
• Senses are unreliable, and observation of the external world lacks underlying rules.
• Logic is required to understand the world we live in.
• This has led to the development of the concepts of Posterior Analytics and Prior Analytics
• Syllogism is the system of logic.
• As a logic system it is powerful and with logical continuity.
• Syllogism could also be used to construct false statements, even though they are logical.

Aristotle's System

• Consists of power in breadth and completeness.
• Aristotle took developed testing results and compiled them over hundreds of years.
• His views were due to own observation/logic.
• There was a belief of the ability to understand nature by Aristotle.
• Aristotle did not implement experimentation.
• He rejected/distrusted knowledge by testing nature.
• Testing made unnatural condition.

Euclid and the Alexandrians

• Following the death of Aristotle, Greek scholarship shifted to Alexandria.
• Ptolemy, the ruler of Egypt, invited Demetrius Phaleron to Alexandria.
• Ptolemy advised an established collection of texts and temple to the Muses (Museum).
• The library was part of the museum.
• Euclid was associated with the Museum.
• Euclid authored Elements, a series of 13 volumes of mathematical knowledge.
• There was systematic presentation with proofs.
• Each statement was based on a logical demonstration of what came before.
• The proofs gave reliability
• Euclid's concepts and theories influenced how math and philosophy ideas presented today.
• There was scope of work.
• Elements brought together all of the math known to the Greeks.
• His book was important for scholars and education.
• Eratosthenes of Cyrene also worked at this time.
• He worked in the field of mathematics.
• He was Chief Librarian in Museum of Alexandria.
• He took the concept of applying math to geography:
• He created the method to measure circumference of the Earth.

The Image of the Philosopher

• Archimedes became an image of philosophers.
• His accomplishments included calculating the number for pi, establishing the study of hydrostatics, and understanding the laws of levers.
• He contributed to designing mechanical devices and various war machines.
• Some of his accomplishments are the creation of the various legends.